1. Technical Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to vehicle identification and location devices and, more particularly, to an apparatus and system for remotely updating and monitoring the status of a vehicle.
2. Description of Related Art
There are millions of cars and trucks operating on the road today. Local, state, and national governments attempt to control the licensing and operation of these vehicles in order to promote public safety and obtain revenue. In addition to the well known requirements for obtaining a driver""s license, state governments typically require that an annual registration fee be paid for each vehicle in order to maintain a current license for the vehicle. In addition, most states require that a safety inspection be performed on the vehicle each year by a state-approved inspection station.
In recent years, many states have passed laws requiring that drivers maintain a minimum level of liability insurance for each vehicle that they operate. In an effort to enforce these laws, drivers may be required to present proof of insurance for their vehicle at the time that they obtain a safety inspection or renew their registration. However, there are still major problems in many states with uninsured drivers. These drivers may forge proof-of-insurance papers when they obtain a safety inspection or renew their registration, or they may purchase insurance when an inspection or registration is due, and then cancel it after the inspection or registration is complete. These actions increase the cost of insurance for all of the legitimate vehicle operators in the state.
Law enforcement personnel have an additional problem in identifying stolen vehicles. Some vehicles may be equipped with security systems which broadcast a location for the vehicle if the vehicle is started and/or driven without performing certain security functions. These security systems can assist the police in locating the stolen vehicle. Most vehicles, however, do not have such security systems, and even for ones that do, actual identification of the vehicle is still difficult. The police must visually read the license number and verify this number in their database.
In order to overcome the disadvantage of existing solutions, it would be advantageous to have an apparatus and system for remotely updating and monitoring the status of a vehicle. Such an apparatus and system could be utilized by law enforcement personnel to quickly and easily determine the status of any vehicle and its operator. The present invention provides such an apparatus and system.
In one aspect, the present invention is a vehicle status device for reporting status information for a vehicle to an interrogating unit. The device includes a database of status information for the vehicle, an update receiver that receives updated vehicle information for storage in the database, an interrogation receiver that receives an interrogation signal from the interrogating unit, and a response transmitter for transmitting the vehicle status information to the interrogating unit in response to the interrogation receiver receiving the interrogation signal.
In another aspect, the present invention is a vehicle status device for reporting status information for a vehicle and an owner of the vehicle to an interrogating unit. The device includes a database of status information for the vehicle and the owner, a wide area pager receiver that receives encoded updated vehicle and owner information from a wide area paging network, an interrogation receiver that receives an interrogation signal from the interrogating unit, and a response transmitter for transmitting encoded vehicle and owner information to the interrogating unit. The device also includes a processor having a coder/decoder that decodes the updated information received from the wide area paging network and sends the decoded information to the database. In response to the interrogation receiver receiving the interrogation signal, the processor retrieves the information from the database, encodes the information, and sends it to the response transmitter.
In yet another aspect, the present invention is a system for remotely updating and monitoring the status of a vehicle. The system includes a vehicle status device for reporting status information for the vehicle to an interrogating unit. The vehicle status device includes a database of status information for the vehicle, an update receiver that receives updated vehicle information for storage in the database, an interrogation receiver that receives an interrogation signal from the interrogating unit, and a response transmitter for transmitting the vehicle status information to the interrogating unit in response to the interrogation receiver receiving the interrogation signal. The updating and monitoring system also includes an interrogating unit comprising an interrogation transmitter for transmitting the interrogation signal to the vehicle status device, and a response receiver for receiving the vehicle status information from the vehicle status device. The interrogation signal may be a radar or laser signal from a standard police radar/laser speed detector. The response transmitter may transmit a radio frequency (RF) signal in response which is received by an RF response receiver in the interrogating unit.
In yet another aspect, the present invention is a ticket-less toll system that includes a vehicle reporting device located in a vehicle for reporting the vehicle identification (VID), an interrogating unit, and a subscriber database. The interrogating unit may be located in a toll booth, and as the vehicle approaches the toll booth, an interrogation transmitter transmits an interrogation signal to the vehicle reporting device. As before, the interrogation signal may be a radar or laser signal from a standard police radar/laser speed detector. An interrogation receiver in the vehicle reporting device receives the interrogation signal, and a RF response transmitter transmits the VID to an RF response receiver in the interrogating unit in response. A processor in the interrogating unit queries a database of subscribers for subscriber information associated with the VID. The database matches the VID with a subscriber, and provides associated credit card information and an indication of whether the subscriber is currently a valid subscriber.